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I am analyzing the past tense of "simple past" and I do not know if the form "were propped up" indicated in the sentence is composed of a verb conjugated in "simple past" and followed by an adjective, or on the contrary, it is part of a clause in passive.

Her flat cloth slippers were propped up on a foot-warmer, and a cat reposed on her lap.

user301169
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  • If it were 'propped uply' then 'uply' would be an adverb modifying the verb-participle 'propped' with'on' as the preposition. Some might say that the sentence should read 'upon', not 'up on'. But I think that 'up' - here - is acting as an adverb, modifying the verb. – Nigel J May 31 '18 at 12:13
  • The salient interpretation is that "propped up" has a stative meaning here and "propped" is thus an adjective as head of an adjectival passive with the preposition "up" as its complement. In other words, it's not a verbal passive but a complex-intransitive clause containing an adjectival passive as predicative complement. – BillJ May 31 '18 at 13:17

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If a participle merely describes a state, then it should be parsed as an adjective if alone, or you may view a whole participial phrase as adverbial if it describes manner or location.

She is wearing a pink sleepsuit with the word 'Itsy' printed on the front, and she is propped up against a darker pink cushion on the sofabed in the room we call the study. — Charles Fernyhough, The Baby In The Mirror, 2010.

The participial phrase describes where and how this baby is sitting. Perhaps one of her parents propped her up in that position or she somehow managed to do it herself, but there is no agent, implied or explicit, and how she got into this position is not the least bit topical.

If the participle describes an action:

Provide a rationale for why an infant's bottle should not be propped up during a feeding. — Lynn R Marotz, Health, Safety, and Nutrition for the Young Child, 2011.

then the participle is a constituent part of a verb phrase in the passive voice. The embedded question here is asking why a particular action — propping up a baby bottle during feeding — should not be performed. The agent is implied: “you” or any person bottle feeding an infant.

Your sentence is identical to the first example: the slippers were propped up just as the baby girl on the pink cushion. It describes a state, not a completed action.

There is far less ambiguity when the agent is explicit:

He was surprised. adjective
He was surprised by the man at the front door. passive

KarlG
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  • In the case that I pointed out the subject of the sentence is inanimate. Would not this fact motivate the presence of a passive clause? – user301169 Jun 01 '18 at 14:32
  • No, that wouldn't make any difference. The baby is animate as well. Both are just sitting/lying there propped up. There is no sense of having been propped up by someone, something, or on the baby's own movement. They're just there. – KarlG Jun 01 '18 at 14:37